S. Korea, US to step up data sharing on NK missiles

South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, right, greets U.S. delegates of the annual ROK-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) during a ceremony at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, Monday, prior to the ministerial meeting. Behind Shin is U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Joint Press Corps

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States agreed, Monday, to share the U.S.'s early warning system (SEWS) data on North Korean missiles, enabling Seoul to strengthen its defense posture against Pyongyang’s increasing nuclear threats.

The agreement was reached during the annual ROK-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) betweeen South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, held in Seoul.

The expansion of military partnerships to SEWS comes as recent developments in North Korea's missile capabilities, such as the ability to launch missiles traveling in irregular trajectories and capable of pull-up maneuvers or rapid-climb flights, have prompted concerns that the projectiles could evade South Korea's existing radar detection systems that are based on land and sea.

The U.S. military currently operates about 10 early warning satellites, including the Defense Support Program (DSP) and Space Based InfraRed System (SBIRS).

The real-time sharing of information gathered by American early warning satellites is expected to significantly enhance South Korea's missile detection and response capabilities, according to Seoul's defense ministry.

"Currently, the South Korean military does not have real-time access to the information observed by the early warning satellites operated by the U.S. The goal (of this agreement) is to establish real-time sharing of this information, allowing it to be transmitted to our surveillance and missile defense systems," a senior defense official told reporters, adding that working-level discussions are underway.

Monday's meeting also touched on a possible suspension of the Sep. 19 inter-Korean military agreement, or the Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA), signed in 2018 under the previous Moon Jae-in government.

Since taking office in September, Shin has been pushing to suspend the military accord, citing its impact on limiting South Korea's surveillance capabilities against the North's military threats.

"Regarding the CMA, we had an opportunity to exchange views and we agreed to stay in close consultation going forward," Austin said during a press conference held shortly after the meeting.

South Korea's defense ministry said it has delivered Seoul's position about the military accord to the U.S. side, although it was not an official agenda of the ministerial meeting.

South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, left, shakes hands with his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin during a signing ceremony of the revised Tailored Deterrence Strategy (TDS) at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of Ministry of National Defense

During the discussions, Austin reiterated the U.S. commitment to provide extended deterrence to South Korea utilizing the full range of America's defense capabilities, including nuclear, conventional, missile defense, and advanced non-nuclear capabilities.

"He noted that any nuclear attack by the DPRK against the United States or its Allies and partners is unacceptable and will result in the end of the Kim (Jong-un) regime in line with the 2022 Nuclear Posture Review declaratory policy," read a joint statement released shortly after the meeting. DPRK is an acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea.

Prior to the meeting, Shin and Austin signed an updated version of the Tailored Deterrence Strategy (TDS), a document designed to counter North Korea’s nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. It was the first time the two sides agreed to make revisions to the document since it was adopted in 2013 following the North's third nuclear test.

Although details of the document have remained confidential due to security reasons, Shin said the revised TDS effectively reflects the advancement of North Korea's nuclear capabilities over the past decade.

"Whereas the previous version of the TDS was rather conceptual, the updated document includes concrete guidelines and has reached the level of joint planning for combined exercises conducted by the two nations," Shin said during the press conference, when asked about the new aspects of the updated TDS.

In addition to the joint statement, Shin and Austin announced the Future Defense Vision of the ROK-U.S. Alliance as an outcome of their annual meeting, which is a blueprint laying out future defense cooperation areas of the two nations.

It was the first time since 2019 that the two nations to announced such a document.

However, unlike the previous Future Defense Vision, which primarily focused on achieving peace through denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, this year's paper cited North Korea as the allies' "foundational and most pressing threat" and reaffirmed the importance of deterring strategic attacks and aggression from hostile regimes in the region, including North Korea.

Meanwhile, the meeting between Shin and Austin was held just a day before an inaugural meeting of the defense chiefs of South Korea and 17 member states of the United Nations Command, also taking place in Seoul. The gathering of defense ministers of the multinational command comes as Seoul seeks to bolster the UNC’s role in maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula.